Oscar Onley 4th in punchy Tour de Pologne finish

In the break with Lorenzo Milesi, Team dsm-firmenich rode strongly as a unit in Poland this afternoon, setting up Oscar Onley who could fight for fourth place on the punchy uphill finish to Karpacz.

The longest stage at the Tour de Pologne awaited the peloton on Sunday afternoon as they rolled out of Leszno, with the final quarter of the stage stacked with several short climbs. Setting out with a plan for later in the stage, Milesi infiltrated the breakaway with the aim of being a foil for some attacks. Alongside his two breakaway companions, Milesi worked well and they built up a lead that peaked at just over ten minutes. Yet, the peloton were in control and slowly reeled them in throughout the stage, making the catch at over 25 kilometres remaining, ahead of the final two climbs. With Milesi caught, the team rallied around Max Poole and Onley well, bringing them into position for the steep hill-top finale. A strong pace was set with Poole following an initial move, before Onley then could follow the best in the battle to the line, crossing in a fine fourth place.

Onley expressed: “We had a plan today to set Max up for an attack in the final so we put Lorenzo in the break as a satellite rider. Unfortunately he got caught a bit earlier than expected. The other guys then did a good job to position myself and Max into the final climb. I tried to follow the wheels and waited for the final kick. In the end I had enough for fourth which sets us up well for the following days.”

Team dsm-firmenich coach Pim Ligthart added: “It was the first GC day in Poland and we had the plan to race aggressively today. Max was to follow the moves in the early part of the final kick and Oscar to focus on the last kilometre. Unfortunately, Max lost some seconds in the finale but Oscar was still up there and did a good result to take fourth. Tomorrow is another chance.”